Gerakan is more problematic than PAS, says Youth chief

The existence of Gerakan gives more problems to Malaysia's political landscape than PAS, said PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat.

Describing the statement made by Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang yesterday as "irresponsible", Suhaizan said it was an attempt to instigate non-Muslims to hate Islam.

He said Tan's statement was an example of the attitude of Gerakan leaders who did not understand the needs of Muslims.

"I disagree with Tan. From what we observe, Gerakan often issue statements inciting non-Muslims to hate Islam.

"It is Gerakan who give more problems to Malaysians rather than PAS," he told Astro AWANI when contacted.

Suhaizan also said, as a political figure, Tan should be more mature and understand the situation in the country because Malaysians consist of different races and religions.

"Making such statements can hurt the feelings of others. Even if we're from different political parties and have different opinions, we should not say things that will make us hate each other...we need to respect one another," he said.

The issue came about yesterday following a disagreement on Twitter between Tan and former Temerloh MP, Saifuddin Abdullah when the latter replied to PAS' Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad's tweet on the challenges that Muslim democrats face today.

Saifuddin had said the challenge for Muslims was to present Islam as a religion that is inclusive. To this tweet, Tan replied that besides the Taliban, the existence of PAS was also a problem. He said PAS wanted to force their will upon non-Muslims, citing Kedah and Kelantan as examples.

Tan also said that if PAS seized Putrajaya, it would be the end of moderate Malaysia.

Saifuddin said although he would continue to fight PAS, Tan was wrong to call the Islamist party a "problem".

Later, Tan told Astro AWANI that if Saifuddin wanted to defend PAS so much, then he should just join the party.